m_kingdom2

I agree, who needs a travel agent when sites such as Expedia can offer advantageous rates on virtually any hotel that's worth bothering with!

CarolA

A word of warning about TripAdvisor. Some people SPAM hotels there and TripAdvisor has no controls to stop this..... So the 10 horrid reviews you read could actually be one person posting 10 times.

And how do I know this? A coworker of mine posts once every few weeks on one hotel. I have stayed at the hotel in quesion (in Orlando, FL) and I think it was fine. Coworker paid $60 s night and lives in some world where she thinks that gets her the Ritz. She has even complained about the free upgrade the hotel gave her. (The elevator required a key and it turns out that made it hard for the other people she was traveling with to crash the free reception in the club level.)

Ever since learning this I have quit using TripAdvisor. I did email them my info, no response.

RufusTFirefly

CarolA--wouldn't this be difficult for any web site to control? Anyone can create an identity to post whatever they want.

RufusTFirefly

For example, someone who didn't like some particular website--let's pick one at random, uummmmmm, how about TripAdvisor. Someone could post multiple messages about how unreliable TripAdvisor is even on a website like Fodors.

P_M

Good point, CarolA, and what about the hotel's competitors? What's to stop someone from posting something nasty to drive away business from their chief rival? I read Trip Advisor occasionally, but I don't take it too seriously.

I also think that if a person stays at a hotel and it's satisfactory, they are far less likely to take the time and trouble to post a note on the web. I think the people who are most likely to do this are those who come home mad as heck about something, so you're not always getting unbiased information from Trip Advisor.

socialworker

When we had a travel agent suggesting hotels in Italy (and her agency specilized in Italy), we looked them up only to find that altho they were 4* hotels, they were invariably in locations that were unacceptable to us. For example in Venice she wanted to book us at a hotel adjacent to the train station. It is a lot of work to do the necessary research, but unless you are a totally "go with the flow person" who can take whatever comes--I have a friend like this who goes where the travel agent suggests and never gives it a second thought-- I think finding a hotel is a "do it yourself" project especially when forums like this one are available for consultation.

Airlawgirl

My response to that P-M is that you obviously haven't read Trip Advisor very often. It's loaded with postive reviews of certain establishments-and those reviews come from all over the world. Since I do consult it regularly, I think I can tell the SPAM from the real thing, and I have found very few reviews which have raised my suspicions in any meaningful way. And contrary to what you say, it's been my observation that guests actually DO take the trouble to write positive and negative reviews of hotels, partic. seasoned travelers-just as they do here, just as I have, because they want to give credit where it is due, or to give someone a caveat emptor-to avoid repeating an unhappy vacation/travel experience.

P_M

I have read some positive reviews on Trip Advisor as well, but my point was that we cannot know if anything we read is true or if the person writing it has their own agenda. It could be the hotel manager putting the good reviews out there. And as CarolA pointed out, she has a co-worker who keeps posting bad things about one hotel to make it look like many people are saying that. Somehow I don't believe that CarolA's colleague is the only person who has ever figured out they can do that. I believe that most of the reviews are sincere, but I also believe that some are not, or they are repeats like the one mentioned above. This is why I don't take it too seriously.

P_M

Airlawgirl, you say you can tell spam from the real thing. Please, enlighten us. How do you know what's spam? What do you look for?

sfowler

There is a lot of useful ruminating on this thread. The game *has* changed. When TAs got their comissions from airlines as well as hotels, there was more incentive to do more careful hotel selection.

At this point I still use my TA for big ticket/hotel chain items. I'm willing to pay 20 USD on a 1,400 USD ticket to Skopje, Macedonia. [but not on a 429 Air Canada.] And if I'm choosing to stay in a chain hotel or one that I know is commissionable I will book through her. I do the research, but I want to give her whatever comissions are left that don't cost me a whole lot in the big picture.

Why? Because I don't want them to disappear. They may just slap you in the first Utell hotel that comes up -- no one is giving them enough anymore to do otherwise. BUT if something goes wrong I want my TA in my corner. For example she helped me locate 4 students that Air France "lost" between Chicago and Budapest. 'Cause let me tell you -- Air France was zero help. Who will be there once we are in the clutches of only the providers -- maybe the TA doesn't have a lot of clout -- but it's another voice -- and in my example -- better able to get information than I was in Budapest.

Most of my hotels these days are non-commissonable -- that is 2 stars -- and I often book flights on the internet -- but when I can I give her the bookings that I can.

Re tripadvisor.com: like anything in life -- use your judgment!!! Most people with an axe to grind aren't very original and can be spotted.

sfowler

Re the thread title. My first reaction was .. Hotel Stress?? Now which city was that ???

Airlawgirl

As one Supreme Ct. Justice famously said about pornography, "I know it when I see it" - PM- and it's obvious you've barely looked at Trip Advisor, otherwise you'd be able to see that spam-type complaints/positive reviews don't really pop up there, unlike other more biased review sites I've seen.

luna

I had posted here asking for opinions from Fodorites on hotels we're considering in Italy - nary an opinion to be had, alas - but at the same time I found out a lot about those hotels on tripadvisor. For instance, one or two were consistently described as quite nice but with traffic noise, which is an important factor where my boyfriend is concerned.

P_M

And as I recall, that description of pornography was considered by most to be a very bad one. I was not trying to get smart with you when I asked what you look for, it was a serious question. There have been times I have looked at Trip Advisor regarding places I have already stayed, just for kicks. I found some of the reviews to be in line with my experiences and some to be nowhere near that. Obvoiusly different people can have different experiences at the same hotel, but nobody wants to be mis-lead by someone like CarolA's colleague.

RufusTFirefly

So I guess we shouldn't use any website where just anyone can establish an identity and post stuff--like here at Fodor's.

P_M

That's not what I said, although I do not deny that it can happen on this board too. The reason I have more faith in Fodors is that I think it's easier to spot a spammer here. For example, I see a lot of the same people's names again and again so those people are probably OK. Also on this board we can click someone's name to see what they have to say on other issues, so if they're always negative we will know. And if I came across a thread of negative statements about the same hotel, I could click on the names of the writers. If all of the writers were one-time posters, then I would suspect that this is a situation like CarolA described. Because of these capabilities, I believe I have some idea of who on this site is knowledgeable and sincere and who isn't. Fodors is a different type of forum where we can talk back and forth, and from what I've seen on Trip Advisor, that is not what people do. If Trip Advisor has that same capabilities, please let me know and I'll give it another chance.

There are some of us on this thread who rely on Trip Advisor and some who don't care for it. Why don't we just agree to disagree? There are so many sources of good info available today, I see no need to rely only on Trip Advisor, at least not entirely. I much prefer a board like this where there is a 2-way dialogue.

cromwell43

and I guess that is why this is called Hotel Stress lol....sorry I started it all...

P_M

Nothing to be sorry for, cromwell, I still see this as a friendly exchange of opinions and I have no hard feelings toward anyone who doesn't agree with me.

For what it's worth, I went to Italy 2 years ago and didn't care much for any of the hotels I stayed in, but it didn't ruin my trip as I spent very little time in the room. I hope you will enjoy your trip, and I hope the rooms will be OK. I also hope you will post back and let us know how it all went.

CarolA

I am not sure what Trip Advisor could do to be more accurate. In addition to people spamming negatives there is nothing to stop the hotel owner or manager from posting glowing reviews. The "souce" of the posting on TA is pretty open (I could post daily with new info, who would know?)

That said, I agree 100% that you are a LOT more likely to get negative reviews on a place like this. People tend to vent about negatives and don't stop to praise the postitive.

All you can do is keep these things in mind when reading reviews. My theory is that anyone can have a bad day and of course some people have unrealistic expectations. I find that for Euopean hotels when you really look at the some of the negative posts you discover that the poster was expecting an American Holiday Inn. (Big room, front door parking, etc...) That might not have been a valid expectation.

Anne27

I recently had a similar experience with TripAdvisor. I was planning a trip to London and, as I now live in Europe and thoroughly enjoy the research involved in travelling, I only use a travel agent to sometimes book flights as I have two places which can get me discount flights easlily. So, I looked into hotels in London and finally decided what area I was intersted in. I booked through Priceline.com and got a hotel for $115 which normally booked for over $250. But after I got the hotel (and for those of you who know Priceline, you dont know what hotel you will get until your bid is accepted) I then found reviews of it on TripAdvisor. Most were awful and so I became distraught, called priceline and, of course, was told "tough" (in so many words) Try as I might they would not consider a change in hotels. So off I went to London, expecting the worst and did not find it!! The hotel was quite nice, no problems like the ones listed in TripAdvisor, and I could not imagine what was the basis for the complaints. As for TripAdvisor in general I have been pleased with the wealth of information either directly on their site or through the links. They gave a very accurate picture of hotels I have stayed at in Pisa and in Florence. I think the best thing is to try to get some objective opinions - Fodors site, friends and also Trip Advisor and then go with the bulk of the comments. And even then you may still come up with a different experience. I did write to TripAdvisor and post my version of the hotel stay as well as an e-mail to Priceline.